American Idol Is Threatening To Sue An Old Folk’s Singing Contest in Bay Ridge
We all know American Idol: The show came to define reality TV by making the careers of Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood, but it’s certainly been starved of attention and ratings in recent years. In fact, some of the show’s executives feel so left out amid the growing popularity of competing shows like X-Factor that they’re threatening legal action against Senior Idol, a senior citizen’s singing contest held annually in Bay Ridge.
The highly comedic and litigious news was reported on by the Brooklyn Paper, which notes that lawyers from Fox sent a letter complaining about the show’s name to Senator Martin J. Golden (R-Bay Ridge), who also happens to be a sponsor of the Senior Idol festivities. The letter demanded that Golden “cease using the Brooklyn Senior Idol Mark in connection with your talent competitions,” and implored him to “remove … any advertisements, promotions, signs, or other material containing the Brooklyn Senior Idol mark.”
If Fox’s lawyers aren’t aware of how terrible they look with this action, they should now: Senior Idol is an annual charity event meant to raise money for the “Xaverian High School Music Scholarship Fund and to purchase new instruments to support the Xaverian High School music program,” according to its website. Tickets for the event, which is in its ninth year, run ten dollars and are probably all bought by tweens who have to begrudgingly watch their grandparents sing “Beyond the Sea,” by Bobby Darin.
While whatever indignation felt by Fox is certainly understandable, it’s not really worthwhile, because threatening legal action over an event in which grandparents raise money to buy new tubas and french horns seems more like the basis of a Simpsons episode—a show that has proven to have more longevity than American Idol.
Follow Sam Blum on Twitter @Blumnessmonster
This article erroneously stated that Brooklyn Paper first broke news of this story. That was incorrect. The news was first broken by The Home Reporter and Spectator. You can read their initial report here.